Thoughts on classical music in London, on the web and beyond. By Gavin Dixon.

Saturday, 13 April 2013

Andrew Davis, BBCSO, Barbican 12 April 2013

Jonathan
Lloyd: old racket (premiere)

Brahms:
Piano Concerto No. 1

Tippett:
Symphony No. 4

Andrew
Davis: conductor

Stephen
Hough: piano

BBC
Symphony Orchestra,

Barbican,
London, 12.4.13

The
BBC Symphony Orchestra has been brave, and possibly even visionary, in
programming a cycle of Tippett Symphonies under Andrew Davis. These are works
that get occasional outings, and none can be considered unduly neglected, but
the general attitude to them is usually one of grudging respect. But both
orchestra and conductor brought enthusiasm and insight to Tippett’s music this
evening, and showed just why he deserves an honoured place in the repertoire.

The
Tippett Four was coupled with a new work from Jonathan Lloyd and the Brahms
First Concerto played by Stephen Hough. Lloyd’s old racket was commissioned under the Royal Philharmonic Society
Elgar Bursary scheme. The history of this scheme is fascinating: it uses the
royalties that the Elgar family has accrued from Anthony Payne’s completion of
the Third Symphony to commission works written in a style of which Elgar may
have approved. In this day and age, that’s not necessarily a virtue, but, as
Anthony Payne himself has demonstrated, stylistic studies in the spirit of
Elgar can produce worthwhile results.

Even
so, Lloyd’s old racket is a
frustratingly unambitious work. It is quite an achievement to set a string
orchestra against a string quartet that is tuned a quartertone sharp and
produce results that still sound like
Elgar. The piece has a promising opening, the string quartet playing alone
and offering a zesty scordatura tone with their raised pitch. But the rest of
the work is based on a four note motif that quickly loses any interest or
appeal, especially as it appears in every single bar. Lloyd injects a quirky
humour into the score, and continually frustrates any sense of tonal centre through
quartertone portamento slides at the ends of phrases. Basing a 15 minute piece
on a single four note motif would stretch the imagination of any composer, and
Lloyd’s invention fails to justify the premise. On the other hand, he does
fulfil the curious and anachronistic terms of the commission, which requires a
rare talent.

Stephen
Hough is undoubtedly one of the finest pianists of our age, but sadly he wasn’t
on form this evening. His Brahms First was full of wrong notes, ragged passage
work and misfiring interjections. Some of the most crucial passages were
fluffed, including the launch into the finale, which was a real shame. Even
more frustratingly, his genius at the keyboard did occasionally shine through.
The way that he can lead the ear down into the mists in the piano’s lower
register, for example, or the way he can turn the mood around in a split
second, introducing a new idea as if he’d thought of it on the spot. Hough’s
muscularity was also very much in evidence, as in the eruption from the piano
that concludes the first movement coda, which was a real treat in this
performance. Despite the fact that his fingers clearly weren’t doing what he wanted
of them, Hough was still prepared to take risks. Nothing here was workaday, nor
was anything ever predictable. But technically the performance just didn’t add
up. No doubt he’ll be back to his brilliant self when he returns to perform the
Brahms Second Concerto next month.

There
were no such concerns with the Tippett, which was given a legendary performance
by Davis and the BBC forces. Davis is really in his element with this music. He
has an innate feeling for its sensibility, a small part of it English pastoral,
a much larger part anarchic. The orchestra performed throughout with clarity
and passion. The piece is a real workout for them, with the spotlight pointed
on every section at one stage or another. The strings coped well with the fast,
scurrying music in the earlier sections, the woodwinds were suitably brash and
austere later on. Each of the virtuosic turns from the brass soloists was well
handled, and the tuned percussion were able to integrate their flourishes and
extended runs into the orchestral texture without ever sounding like mere
decoration. Rather than use a recorded voice for the breathing, a live “breather”
was employed, and to excellent effect. He was able to bring a surprisingly
musical sensibility to the part, which calls for a range of dynamics, and also
benefits from the changes in timbre a live breather can bring. It’s not an
underperformed work, the Fourth Symphony, but it is all too rare that it is
presented in a performance of this quality. The respect in which Tippett is held
in this country, and beyond, could well be transformed into a real passion for
his music if it was always performed to this high standard.

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Gavin Dixon is a writer, journalist, editor and blogger specialising in classical music. He writes reviews and articles for a number of publications and websites. Gavin has a PhD on the Symphonies of Alfred Schnittke and is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is also a member of the editorial team behind the ‘Alfred Schnittke Collected Works’ edition, which recently began publication in St Petersburg. More information on Gavin’s writing activities can be found at his website: www.gavindixon.info